Putting the fun in feminism

by
marlies|dekkers

It was a dream come true, working with the legendary photographer Ellen von
Unwerth. I had admired her work for years, her iconic images of women like Rihanna, Jennifer Lopez, and Madonna in magazines like Vogue and Vanity Fair, her unforget-table campaigns for Guess and Chanel, but I had also felt a very strong kinship with her: here was another woman who celebrated women’s bodies without ever objectifying them. A woman who had been pioneering feminine feminism, just like me.

Before picking up a camera to become one of the world’s most celebrated fashion photographers, Ellen von Unwerth was a model herself. “I was never
allowed to move, so when I started taking pictures, I told my models to move, to have fun! Women are so beautiful when they feel free!”, she told me during the shoot for my Julia Child collection in Los Angeles. And indeed, watching our models Destene K. and Mosh blossom under Ellen’s eye on the set -with Destene at one point putting a pie on Mosh’ beautiful behind with Ellen snapping away, hollering ‘yes, yes!’- I could see that the fun and confidence she generates in women is the secret of her success.

“I don’t want to objectify women, I want to see every side of them.”
Ellen von Unwerth

When I asked Ellen, who launched the careers of many top models like Claudia Schiffer (“I found her by accident!”) and Eva Herzigova (“She is oozing with vitality!”) if she considered herself a feminist, she reacted almost surprised: “But of course! I am a woman!” When Ellen recently had a big retrospective exhibition, covering 30 years of her career, she named it ‘Ladyland’. Why? Because the German photographer has always maintained that the past, present and future is decidedly female. And although all her work is sensual, provocative and downright sexy, it is not her objective to only cast women in a typical ‘sexy light’. “I don’t want to objectify women, I want to see every side of them. There are so many sides to women!”

Meanwhile, on our set in LA, pure magic was happening. Mosh, who also happens to be a burlesque super star, was looking drop dead gorgeous in a bra and corset – with garters! – from my frivolous, pink-and-black ‘Meringue’ collection. All of a sudden, she grabbed a can of whipped cream and brought it to her mouth. With a beaming smile, Ellen started taking pictures. A gesture that in different circumstances, with a different (male) photographer, could have seemed semi-pornographic, became a joyful expression of Mosh’ sensuality: she was not trying to seduce us with that whipped cream, she was having a blast, and she was happy to have us watch. Ellen turned to me and winked: “I just love to play!”.

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Marlies Says

Happy Women’s Day! I am extra excited about this edition, because wow, what a year it’s been for feminism! This is the year that we went global; that we showed up with our money, our bodies, our time and our voices to show the world: this is OUR time!

MD Friends

When I think of someone who is the embodiment of the highest level of expression, I have to think of German opera superstar Nadja Michael (47). This fearless feminine feminist is absolutely unforgettable in roles like Medea, Salomé and Lady Macbeth, performing phenomenally not just as a singer, but also a dancer and actress. How does she do it?

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She started out as a contestant on the Norwegian version of ‘So You Think You Can Dance’; a few years later her debut single ‘Sunrise’ reached triple platinum status. But what makes Norwegian/Cuban star Alexandra Joner (27) such a feminine feminist icon is the fearless fun with which she expresses herself; in her singing and acting, but also in her fabulously sexy looks (often wearing marlies|dekkers, of course!). “I am fighting to make ‘sexy’ a positive thing!”

MD Friends

With her stunning staged photographs, Dutch artist Marie Cécile Thijs (1965) connects the past with the present in an intensely poetic, painterly way. Originally a lawyer, she decided more than fifteen years ago to follow her love for the camera. In just a short period of time, Marie Cécile became an internationally acclaimed artist whose works are included in the collections of museums like the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam and the Museum of Photographic Arts San Diego. She has also presented her art at TEFAF (widely regarded as the world’s pre-eminent fair of art and antiques), Art Miami and Photo Shanghai. For her signature series ‘White Collar’, Marie Cécile photographed the only surviving 17th-century pleated ruff in the world, then digitally added it to her models for an almost surreal, mesmerizing result.